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Ronnie Johnson has started 2007 on very positive note. The second generation driver out of Duanesburg, N.Y., has two second place finishes at Fonda and a win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. This is a welcome change from the poor luck that plagued him in 2006.
“I don’t think things could go any worse than they did last year,” joked Johnson before Saturday night’s racing action at Fonda Speedway. “Last week was a good start to the season and right now I’m real anxious to get out there and get things going.”
Johnson major concern prior to Saturday evening’s event was his ability to put several good runs together. Although he grabbed a feature win in ’06, he wasn’t able to run up front week in and week out.
“It seemed like last season we would have a good run and we couldn’t put multiple solid runs together,” said Johnson. “This season I need to have some consistency.”
Over the winter months a few things changed for the JRP Motorsports team, mainly the title sponsor on the side of his Teo Pro Car.
“Josh Plue, who owns JRP Motorsports, sold his business, JRP Construction over the winter” stated Johnson. “W.M. Larned and Son stepped up and they are really helping us out for this season.”
Besides W.M Larned, Johnson has a lot of other people helping him out, including some folks that are helping his father as well. Alton and Carol Palmer have decided to aid Johnson in running the complete Race of Champions North Tour.
“I’m fortunate that Alton and Carol Palmer are going to help me out for the RoC North tour,” commented Johnson. “They don’t have any children to spend their money on and they really love racing. I’m fortunate to have their support for this season.”
Johnson went on to say, “The tour goes going to tracks that I race at weekly and I hoping we can have some quality runs.”
With the RoC tour already on his schedule, Johnson plans to start the season at Utica-Rome Speedway on Sunday evenings.
“We plan on going to the first few shows to see how things go,” said Johnson. “If things go well we may race their entire year. A lot depends on how much help I’m able to get to go out there and race.”
Right now Johnson plans to use the same car they will run at Albany-Saratoga at Gene Cole’s Vernon, N.Y. oval.
“We have another car almost done,” stated Johnson. “But for now I’m just going to run the same car at both places until we have time to put the other one together.”
Johnson lack of time is due to the fact that his business, Jumpin Jack’s Pro Speed, is doing well.
“Things have been really good at the business,” said Johnson. “We are working 24/7 right now with very little time for anything besides eat, sleep, work, and racing.”
The only thing Johnson planned to focus on this past weekend besides racing was the Yankees and Red Sox series at Fenway Park. Unfortunately for him, the Yankees lost all three games.
Hopefully Johnson’s luck will continue to work in his favor and maybe if us Yankee fans are lucky some of his good luck can rub off on them.
Mike Mallett can be reached for comment at mikemallett@dirttrackdigest.com.
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